Zanu PF congress to solve nothing, but another talk show

via Zanu PF congress to solve nothing, but another talk show – NewsDay Zimbabwe 2 December 2014

The Zanu PF congress starting this week has grabbed much headlines not so much on the basis of what the party promises to do in fulfilling its electoral promises, but more for the infighting, power grabs and sacking of fellow comrades.

“Elective” party congresses are supposed to be exciting because they are the starting point of national elections, as leaders elected in party positions go on to stand for national leadership positions.

This excitement has unfortunately been taken from the coming Zanu PF congress and instead what we have is an installation of President Robert Mugabe as the undisputed king and owner of Zanu PF.

No other senior positions are to be filled via elections, but Mugabe will handpick those he wants to work with.

The constitution of Zanu PF which naturally must speak the language of democracy has been changed at the stroke of a pen to put the party in the hands of one person.

In essence this is not an elective congress, but a big party to celebrate the attainment of kingship of the ruling party by the First Family. We will hear this week all sorts of sycophantic praise singing beyond proportion.

The bootlicking will go into frenzy and I am sure speeches to that effect are being prepared and rehearsed in bedrooms.

The Zanu PF that we have known since its formation will start a new journey today, far removed from the democratic foundational aspirations upon which it was put together, but now far entrenched in an undemocratic and undesirable power grab and dictatorship.

This event, while very much Zanu PF and to be attended by Zanu PF members, will negatively reverberate nationally and will likely make any future elections as difficult and more undemocratic as in the past.

This is so because our political parties — chief being Zanu PF — no longer believe in democracy. If Mugabe cannot be challenged at party level, why would Zanu PF allow him to be challenged in national elections?

This unbelief in democracy is not only anchored on fear as many of the leaders in Zanu PF are corrupt and essentially surviving on patronage, but also focused on access to riches and without one working for such.

There is nothing spectacular about the fights in Zanu PF apart from access to wealth, there is no ideological or policy differences. In other words, there is nothing for the ordinary citizen within the Zanu PF fights.

Even as the State media churns out one corruption story after another as done by the Vice-President, what we are not getting is what other officials have grabbed and the abuse of national resources that has gone on since 1980. Can the State media explain how all in the leadership from the first family acquired their wealth, how many farms do such leaders have one may ask?

This week will therefore mark the continuation of a retrogressive political culture and a decline in the democratisation of Zimbabwe as the leading and most powerful party degenerates into a one person party devoid of the very practices that must constitute a congress.

What Zanu PF does the rest of the political movement follows and future elections will therefore be organised with the thinking that Mugabe cannot be challenged.

If Zanu PF believes that the party belongs to Mugabe and his family then by extension they believe Zimbabwe belongs to Mugabe and his family and all of us belong to him and his family.

Instead of making a contribution to national development more so building a strong democracy led by competent leaders, chosen freely by the people both at political party and national level, we now have a kingdom and likely a monarchy in the making.

The sad part is that very few are prepared to speak about this including men and women of commendable education and some who accomplished a lot including risking their lives for Zimbabwe now find themselves simply as cheerleaders and NOT contributors to the making of a prosperous Zimbabwe.

Rather than celebrate Zimbabwe must mourn the deterioration in leadership standards when leading political parties and figures think they are indispensable and that they are entitled to lead to no end, even as they have nothing to show for it.

Rest assured Mugabe will give us a lecture on history and where Zimbabwe came from, but no concrete ideas on where we are to go.

The speeches at the congress will touch on the usual land reform, expropriation of companies, education and health yet the National Budget presented by the Finance Minister leaves no cent for such projects apart from salaries.

While Zimbabwe is poor, we are now even worse off without a competent leadership and one that does not even try.

We are in a difficult situation where leadership has abrogated its responsibilities for self-serving political and personal interests. The man and women attending this congress have unashamedly set this country many years backwards.

I hold no brief for the former Zanu PF spokesperson Rugare Gumbo, but he clearly said it, that Zimbabwe has no leadership, that we have individuals who think they were born to lead us to nowhere forever.

By some miracle we hope that someone somewhere within Zanu PF still has the interests of this country at heart, the rest have gone astray in pursuit of self-riches.
The daily struggles of the ordinary citizens matter no more.